Naturally Observable Characteristics

Team-Building and Communicating with Different Styles

By learning how to adapt to and connect with others, we create stronger and more effective relationships. When you understand someone, you can more easily flex your characteristics to match their characteristics.

In formal “trait theory,” the belief is that people are best understood in terms of a small number of stable personality characteristics. These characteristics have been written about over the years, and we have endeavored to embrace the assessment research that has come before us. The factor analysis model that we use to support the Naturally Observable Characteristics (NOC) tool adds new distinctions and value to these characteristics. Our system is consistent with many of the instruments currently in the marketplace with which people are already familiar.

You can easily observe a number of personality characteristics in the people around you. We emphasize that behavioral tendencies are neither right or wrong, nor good or bad—these characteristics simply differ from one another. People have different styles, and that’s just fine, but the basic behavioral patterns that we observe in others helps us to define a series of classic characteristics.

For example, how an individual approaches a situation and takes action defines their level of extroversion or introversion. Extroverts tend to jump quickly into a task, and therefore, may practice quick decision-making. On the other hand, introverts tend to carefully consider the choices before them. For an introvert, decision-making may take more time as they are usually more cautious and deliberate.

Another behavioral characteristic that defines an individual can be determined by how they prioritize their relationships with others. People demonstrate this behavior by either prioritizing task accomplishment or the feelings of the people with whom they work. Once we were able to refine statistically specific personality characteristics, we developed and deployed a number of factor-based assessments with great success. We built the NOC tool by observing and implementing statistical models and we have improved its accuracy with each large sample size.

Our behavioral characteristics emphasize nature over nurture. In fact, a person’s inherent natural characteristics are an integral part of who they are. These are not learned so much in their environment but they are never the less observable. We’re all experts at seeing the behaviors of the people around us. This tool is a powerful communication device because it simplifies a person’s observable behavioral characteristics into easy to understand categories. In turn, we can use these categories of characteristics to increase communication effectiveness.

A major criticism of existing tools is that they label people with trait descriptors that carry negative connotations. This has created some resistance to the usage of personality characteristics with team building. Our tool only uses positive descriptors of Naturally Observable Characteristics.

Through research, we have found that the most effective people are those who understand themselves—their strengths, motivations and weaknesses—and therefore can develop strategies to better themselves. Once you understand yourself more deeply, the next step is to better understand your team members and colleagues.

The NOC tool was developed based on a deep scientific understanding and rigorous data collection and analysis. As we gather more data, we will make improvements to its accuracy and usability.

Become certified to deliver the NOC training workshop for managers and individuals. Through this certification process, you’ll discover how the skills taught in our training courses help participants to improve their lives and enable your organization to achieve measurable and sustainable results.

This training will empower your team members to discover more about themselves and how they can more effectively partner with one another. In addition, you will become part of a community that has access to additional resources and personalized support that is designed to ensure your success.

Objectives

Delve into why understanding yourself and others is the key to performance improvement and productivity.

Leadership is a Choice®

The Leadership is a Choice™ process is more development than training. The process emphasizes bringing out your own internal identity as a leader more than putting in information. In our approach, leadership capabilities consist of both new behaviors and eliciting your own personal identity as a leader.

What are the identities that bring about leadership? When we look underneath effective outer leadership skills, we find three fundamental identities that a leader must have: being a catalyst, being a visionary and being a coach/mentor. By starting with these inner capabilities, learning becomes natural and fun and team members learn to wield new skills with wisdom. When accessed, developed, and used together, these three basic leadership identities help intuitive leadership wisdom surface in any role for any situation.

Is our process a quick-fix approach? Yes and no. The Leadership is a Choice™ process requires commitment and sustained, disciplined learning. It requires consistent practice in accessing your deeply held values and using your leadership capabilities. And at the same time with our technology of accelerated learning, you’ll enjoy immediate results that you can use the very next day.

Leaders cannot change the choice people make about their own leadership capability by request or decree. Someone’s belief about themselves as a leader can only change as a result of experiences. So leaders must always be aware of the experiences they are creating for other people.

Our approach is based on the recognition that people are capable of achieving much more than they normally do. We help identify the foundational attitudes of the ways people limit themselves — in their individual performance and in the effectiveness of their working relationships with teammates. By exploring these limiting belief systems, we identify the sources of ineffective team performance and shift to belief systems that generate high team performance. We have processes to strengthen each individual’s willingness and ability to deal with conflict, and to create an environment where difficult issues are handled effectively by the team. Team members learn to resolve the key communication and interpersonal issues that affect the productivity of the team.

Objectives

In addition to having the core high performance skills, organizational leaders and managers must have a set of personal qualities and traits to be effective. These qualities include integrity, credibility, respect for and belief in others, and the intent to empower others and to bring out the best in them. Leaders must frame their task as one of creating and communicating a shared vision of what is possible, and then harnessing the human talent and other resources to achieve over-arching goals that benefit everyone. Leaders and managers must demonstrate personal congruence in word and behavior and be willing and able to act as role models. This approach to leading and managing implies a framework of respect, affirmation and mutual empowerment of leaders and followers. This program is structured to develop leaders who will mentor others in the area of personal accountability, communication styles, task issues, motivation and team building. Participants will leave the course with transferable skills, allowing them to introduce others to the concepts of personal accountability. Additionally, they will develop action plans to cascade these concepts throughout their organization.

Key Learnings

To make a choice about leadership

To learn the communication and influencing skills necessary to lead effectively

To create a transformation in your own leadership development

Create authentic trust with team members

Improvements in working relationships and performance

Improvements in the ability to hold each other accountable

A leadership group that is authentically committed to the success of one another.

A consistent and cohesive communication platform that mobilizes people and results in aligned action.

Shared skills and a common language for quickly resolving conflict and handling breakdowns.

Leaders able to influence others to follow through the authenticity of their vision.

Principled Negotiations and Compelling Partnerships

Principled Negotiations and Compelling Partnerships is a rigorous, fast moving and challenging course. Sessions include skills training and practice sessions with individual assignments to apply and practice the skills already learned.

Sheppard Partners’ Negotiation Basics course will be delivered in a single day to a group of up to 35 participants.

Intent

For individuals, Negotiation Basics creates breakthroughs in their approach to negotiations; for a company, it teaches a powerful new way to do business. The consequence is superior negotiated results, wise and efficient agreements, and greater business success. This course provides participants the skills necessary to successfully facilitate decisions inside of a matrix organization.

Philosophy

Successful negotiation involves much more than just knowing what to ask for. Sheppard Partners’ Negotiation Basics model imparts skills for building and maintaining powerful, rewarding, long-term, strategic alliances. It provides a clear step-by-step process, along with the communication skills and techniques necessary to be successful at using that process.

Outcomes

To learn a methodical framework for planning and managing the negotiation process.

To learn to use negotiations as a means to improve relationships and build lasting partnerships.

To become comfortable using a process that results in wise and efficient agreements.

To learn how to say no

To build influencing ability

Building partnerships

Impact Presenting and Facilitation

Impact Presenting enables participants to create a compelling vision of the future for their clients. The ability to create a compelling future is fundamental to preserving long term relationships. Working with your own presentations, explicit skills are learned in order to speak to both the conscious and unconscious mind of any individual or group. Our 9 – step process gives a structure and a format for speaking before small or large audiences. You will learn how to write and structure a presentation, and how to create presentations that hold the audience’s attention. You will learn how use voice and body language to create impact. Additionally, you will learn how to make your presentation powerful, punchy and to the point. You will learn how to handle questions from even the most difficult audiences.

Each participant will experience a breakthrough that maximizes their own style of speaking. Individuals for whom public speaking elicits fear, there are explicit processes that use relaxation and breathing techniques to calm the nerves and train the voice to maximize its impact on the audience. Our seminar focuses on the strategic thinking and execution for that is where the power of you really exists. In our program you will find your body language habits will automatically change as your thinking changes.

This is the perfect seminar to help you become a more dynamic speaker and presenter. This seminar will teach you how to improve your presentations and your confidence. You will also learn how to properly structure your presentations, how to use visual aids, gestures and speaking postures. This program is designed for professionals at all levels who must make presentations or deliver speeches. The level of this course is custom tailored to the speaking ability of the participants. Whether you are a beginner, or someone looking to improve your speaking techniques, this is the program for you.

In addition to presentation skills, attending this workshop will help you with all aspects of effective facilitation. You will learn how to facilitate dialogues that build trust and commitment. Strategies will be reviewed to keep group discussions on a focused and productive track. Participants will be able to identify and overcome barriers to participation as they foster a collaborative environment. Each person will have the opportunity to managing the facilitation process: what to do at each stage of the conversation; moving the dialogue forward. You will learn how to help others contribute their knowledge and ideas. We will review the pitfalls of group thinking and how you can overcome them to effectively learn how to guide productive meetings. Techniques will be practiced so you will easily be able to foster constructive conflict to lead a group to a new insight.

Outcomes

You will expand your skills with your own presentation material

Focused feedback and video

Proven system that is applicable both spoken & written communication

Designed for easy brain recall, not just classroom learning

Learn high impact techniques that make a difference

Registration Form

NocNocK Training and NOC® Trainer Certification

If you are interested in one of our trainings and would like more information please fill out form below or Email or call Sheppard Partners.
seminars@sheppardpartners.com
(415) 482-1100